Strange writing
Jul. 9th, 2010 12:56 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
chococomilk.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
lkh_lashoutsI haven't read any of LKH's books past Harlequin, as they were so trippy and orgy-tastic by that point that I felt ashamed to be seen reading them even by my family, but curiosity got the better of me and I went to read an excerpt on Amazon of the latest book, "Bullet", to see what it was like. Immediately, this two-sentence gem leapt out at me:
"Monica's son was under five, so he didn't count as male yet. He was just a generic child."
I was under the impression that if he's Monica's son, that means he is a male. You can't be called somebody's son unless you have male genitalia. Since when has biological sex been determined by age? And what is a "generic child"? Does she mean that to Anita, Monica's son is unremarkable from other five year old boys? Is that because Anita isn't a mother, and is blind to the powerful individualism mothers ascribe to their offspring from other people's? Is it because he has very ordinary features - brown hair and brown eyes, the most common of phenotypes?
"I heard my name squealed out, in that high-pitched generic toddler voice."
What is a generic toddler voice? Squeaky? Of course it is - a boy's voice doesn't break until puberty. I think I can see what she means, and from Anita's perspective that all children seem alike is probably understandable since she doesn't have any and doesn't know anyone who has any, but it is a remarkably clumsy bit of writing. There's a lot of commentary on the sheer avalanche of sex scenes in LKH's novels, and on excessive word repetition (e.g. spilled) but has anyone else been turned off by the lack of writing quality?
"Monica's son was under five, so he didn't count as male yet. He was just a generic child."
I was under the impression that if he's Monica's son, that means he is a male. You can't be called somebody's son unless you have male genitalia. Since when has biological sex been determined by age? And what is a "generic child"? Does she mean that to Anita, Monica's son is unremarkable from other five year old boys? Is that because Anita isn't a mother, and is blind to the powerful individualism mothers ascribe to their offspring from other people's? Is it because he has very ordinary features - brown hair and brown eyes, the most common of phenotypes?
"I heard my name squealed out, in that high-pitched generic toddler voice."
What is a generic toddler voice? Squeaky? Of course it is - a boy's voice doesn't break until puberty. I think I can see what she means, and from Anita's perspective that all children seem alike is probably understandable since she doesn't have any and doesn't know anyone who has any, but it is a remarkably clumsy bit of writing. There's a lot of commentary on the sheer avalanche of sex scenes in LKH's novels, and on excessive word repetition (e.g. spilled) but has anyone else been turned off by the lack of writing quality?
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Date: 2010-07-11 12:06 pm (UTC)She seems to have picked up enough fans who don't care.
Even a lot of us who really enjoyed the series to start have a hard time reading them now, because either a) we know where it's all going, and that's painful or b) we start noticing all sorts of flaws that we overlooked/didn't care about in the beginning.
The biggest problem is the one she's admitted herself (and the one you identified) - she's promised Anita that she won't lose anyone she cares about. And at this point, that's about the only thing that would get me to read another AB novel - if she killed someone who was actually important AND they STAYED that way. Micah gets my vote.
The sexy parts...aren't. At all. Aside from the repetitve bits (tight and wet, etc), the bad descriptions (like fresh rainwater and meat? ew.), the oh-so loving detail given to fellatio, there's just all the way-too-much-talking during group sex.
But I'm not saying anything you don't already know...